Football transfer rumours: Chelsea to sign Daniele Rugani from Juventus?

Chelsea are keen on Daniele Rugani, but do Juventus want to sell him? And does he want to leave?
Photograph: Mitchell Leff/International Champions Cup/Getty Images

Harry Maguire is confident that he will be a Manchester United player before the season starts, says the Mirror, while for their part United “feel he would be easier to purchase than Tottenham’s Toby Alderweireld”. According to the Sun however José Mourinho doesn’t much mind which one he ends up with and “Alderweireld may be an easier target”, though the Mail suggests they could end up with neither of them, and sign Milan’s Leonardo Bonucci instead.

Transfer window 2018 – every summer deal from Europe's top five leagues

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Chelsea are also in the market for a centre-back, and are focusing their attention of Juventus’s £45m-rated Daniele Rugani. “The interest is there from Chelsea,” says his agent, Davide Torchia. “Beyond the figures though there is a technical question: neither the player nor Juventus have ever said they want a sale.” And talking of Chelsea and Juventus, Monaco have pipped both of them to the signing of CSKA Moscow’s Aleksandr Golovin, with their chief executive Vadim Vasilyev boasting that “we have offered more favourable conditions for the club and a more understandable project for the player”.

Rafael Benítez is only staying at Newcastle because he’d have to pay them £6m to let him leave, says the Mirror, and is anxiously waiting to find out just how badly the club will mess up this transfer window. “Is the current squad good enough for what we need?” pondered the Spaniard, “I don’t think so.” The Swiss defender Fabian Schär is due to arrive any day now, and Newcastle are also in the running for Mainz’s Japan forward Yoshinori Muto, valued at £9m, while offering West Brom a Dwight Gayle/Salomon Rondon swap.

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Crystal Palace are mulling over an £8.9m deal for the Roma midfielder Maxime Gonalons, who according to the Express “has failed to establish himself in Italy” in the year since he moved there from Lyon, but whose value has doubled from 2017’s £4.5m anyway.

Richarlison has all attributes to repay Marco Silva’s faith again at Everton

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Now to the big question of the day: are Everton and Watford friends again? It appears to depend on who you ask. “Everton have settled their long-running dispute with Watford over manager Marco Silva as part of the £40m deal to land Richarlison,” announces the Express. “It is understood that the fee Everton are paying to Watford for the player includes compensation to settle a row between the two clubs relating to Silva,” declares the Times. “Watford are refusing to back down in their dispute with Everton over compensation for Marco Silva,” counters the Mail. “Barely 24 hours after receiving £44m from Everton for Brazilian winger Richarlison, Watford have resumed their protest.”

Frank Lampard’s Derby have signed Peterborough’s prolific striker Jack Marriott, whose club started the summer demanding £5m for the 23-year-old and have ended up accepting £1.5m, and also want the Ipswich hitman Martyn Waghorn, who might cost £4m.

And finally, several papers have revealed this morning the horrendous conditions in which Pep Guardiola makes his staff at Manchester City work. His former assistant Domènec Torrent, who escaped his Mancunian hell to take over as manager of New York City this summer, is the one who has bravely spoken out about the true horror of his ordeal. “We worked in the office always with music on,” he sobbed. “It would just be relaxing music. Some jazz, or maybe Sade.”